Columbiana’s Senator Johnson dribbles against Valley Christian on Friday at Valley.

YOUNGSTOWN — With the Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference having a three-team log jam at the top of its standings heading into Friday night’s action, the Columbiana at Valley Christian boys’ game was sure to break the bottleneck a little bit. With the Clippers knocking off the Eagles 54-41, it propels them to a share of the EOAC’s top spot with Lisbon.

“It was a big game, but they are all big games in the league,” Clippers head coach Todd Johnson remarked. “This is always a tough environment to play in, and coach Carroll (Valley) always has his team ready to go. We knew we were going to be in for a battle, and we were. It was an outstanding and tough game.”

With the victory, the Clippers improved to 9-2 on the season and 6-1 in the league. The Clippers won dramatically late last season over the Eagles on a half-court three-pointer by Seth Struharik to help the Clippers grab a share of the league title.

“This was huge, especially going into tonight,” Clippers senior Cooper Brown said. “If we had lost tonight, there is no telling (what would happen). We know every game matters.”

The loss drops the Eagles to 5-4 on the year with a 5-2 record in the conference. It also marks the Eagles’ third consecutive setback and fourth in their last five contest.

“To be honest, we are not very good right now,” Eagles head coach Dolph Carroll said. “We are not doing some of the little things that require a team to be competitive. I have great kids, and they are trying, but some of them are not grasping some of the stuff we are trying to do.”

With the game knotted up at 19-19 late in the second quarter, the Clippers seemed to find another gear as they closed the first half with a 7-2 run to carry a 5-point, 26-21 lead into the halftime locker rooms. Baskets by Senator Johnson and Brown on consecutive possessions, followed by a three-pointer by Avery Young with just 34 seconds remaining in the half, helped power the Clippers’ run.

“Our coaches told us all to push the ball,” Brown said. “I have to give credit to the coaches and their game plan. If we share the ball and push it, we are hard to stop.”

The Clippers continued to pull away from the Eagles to start the second half. Following a basket by the Eagles’ Deion Miller, the Clippers exploded with a 15-3 run to push out to a 15-point, 41-26 advantage with just under a minute left in the third quarter. During the stretch, Johnson and Brown teamed up to score 11 of those 15 points. The Eagles snapped the run with a basket and a free throw to close the frame, trailing the Clippers 41-29.

“We really talked about our outside man-to-man and being in a better help side. We have some length, so we like to get out and go and push the basketball,” Coach Johnson explained his halftime adjustments. “We talked about a few different sets that we wanted to run, but to the boys’ credit, I didn’t have to call them out too much.”

“We are limited with what we can do defensively, which hurts us a little bit,” Carroll said about his Eagles team. “We are trying to get some kids healthy and get some more depth. We need to get better. Look at ourselves in the mirror and throw our pants on and get back to work.”

Brown led the Clippers with 18 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots.

“He’s our Swiss Army knife,” Coach Johnson said with a chuckle. “He defends, he rebounds, and he shoots the ball for us. He means a ton to us.”

Johnson added 15 points and five rebounds, while Hunter Davanzo also helped on the boards with 11 rebounds.

The Clippers didn’t let up in the final period as Hunter Davanzo scored once with Brown driving inside on consecutive possessions to score and bolster the Clippers lead to a game-high 18-point, 47-29 lead at the 6:01 mark of the quarter. The Clippers effectively milked the clock the remainder of the contest, with the Eagles not able to cut into their advantage until the final moments.

“We were able to play our game defensively,” Coach Johnson said. “We were able to kind of slow it down and play at our pace on the defensive end. We really clogged the lanes and helped on the outside.”

Neither team could separate itself in the first 14 minutes of the contest as they traded the lead several times, with the Clippers holding a slim 11-10 lead at the close of the first quarter. The Eagles enjoyed a 3-point, 14-11 advantage early in the second period before the Clippers tied the game at 17-17 on a free throw by Brown at the 5:11 mark of the stanza. Following an exchange of baskets, the teams were tied at 19 with just three minutes remaining in the first half. That is when the Clippers began to separate themselves.

“I have to give credit to them (Valley). Every time we play them, they are going to play it close and physical,” Brown said.

The Eagles were led by King Swiggett and Deion Miller, each scoring 12 points in the contest. Swiggett also grabbed six rebounds.

Columbiana will return to the court on Tuesday when the Clippers travel to United in another key EOAC contest. Valley will look to rebound when its travels to Leetonia on Tuesday.

CO: 11-15-15-13–54

VC: 10-11-8-12–41

COLUMBIANA SCORING: Cooper Brown 8, 1-3, 18, Senator Johnson 5, 5-6, 15, Trey Snyder 0, 0-0, 0, Avery Young 2, 0-0, 5, Hunter Davanzo 5, 2-4, 12, Zander Oliver 1, 1-2, 4. TEAM TOTALS: 21, 9-15: 54.

VALLEY CHRISTIAN SCORING: King Swiggett 5, 2-6, 12, Dennis Reed 2, 0-2, 4, Jordan Tutwiler 2, 1-1, 6, Caleb Harrison 0, 0-0, 0, Nigel Currie 1, 0-0, 2, Deion Miller 5, 0-0, 12, Armond Duval 2, 0-0, 5. TEAM TOTALS: 17, 3-9: 41.

Three-point goals: Co.umbiana 3 (Brown, Oliver, Young); Valley 4 (Miller 2, Tutwiler, Duval).